Smart Girls Don’t Diet !

Happy New Year to you all! I hope that you have had the most amazing Christmas spending quality time with loved ones. New Year brings new hopes and dreams and like all of you, I have my own personal goals that I would like to achieve this year: Really try and get to my yoga classes and make it habitual rather than fitting it in if I can to name one! If you are like the millions of people who are thinking of losing weight and getting ‘healthier’ then there is a high potential that you will be thinking about embarking on some sort of diet.

Having spent hours and hours with clients over the last 3 years who have the same health dreams in January as you do, the one thing that I know for certain is that diets don’t work for the majority. Why do millions of people who have spent their lives trying to diet continue in vain to begin again knowing that dieting has not led them to the utopia of health and weight loss they were looking for? Now I’m not saying that you wont lose weight initially sticking to a specific dietary model as the vast majority do, what we do know is nearly 65 percent of dieters return to their pre-dieting weight within three years, according to Gary Foster, Ph.D., clinical director of the Weight and Eating Disorders Program at the University of Pennsylvania. The statistics for dieters who lose weight rapidly, according to Wellsphere, a website sponsored by Stanford University, is worse. Only 5 percent of people who lose weight on a crash diet will keep the weight off. Crash diets include any unhealthy diet, from severe calorie-restriction diets to diets that consist of only a few kinds of foods.

Why diets don’t work!

Regain Reasons There are many reasons people regain weight after a crash diet. For example, if you lose a lot of weight quickly, it doesn't mean you're necessarily shedding fat. A lot of the lost weight could be water, and that comes back fast once you resume normal eating. Crash diets typically don't emphasize, or even mention, the need for regular physical activity, says the American Heart Association, which recommends an exercise program for keeping weight off long term.

Rapid-Loss RisksLosing weight quickly carries serious health risks. It can make your bones more frail and less dense; it can atrophy muscles; and it can wreak havoc with your immune system and leave you more susceptible to opportunistic infections. Your heart can also be damaged from extreme dieting. Cardiologist Isadore Rosenfeld, M.D., warns that crash dieting can cause heart palpitations and even heart attacks.

Underlying psychology of emotional eating Having dieted throughout my twenties, I have tried everything you could imagine: Slimming World, Weight Watchers, Atkins and even the cabbage soup diet (yep – I was sucked in to!). The one thing they all have in common is that they do not tackle underlying habits and emotional connections to food.

If you are overweight then there is a high probability that there is some sort of emotional connection with food, alcohol or sugar dependency present and the vast majority don’t recognise this. Those that do don’t fully understand why it is present in the first place. When working with my clients, I can identify whether a fat deficiency is creating an imbalance causing the brain to signal hunger and the need for high calorie food sources or whether blood sugar balancing is an issue to name a few. By rebalancing the body, cravings start to diminish as the client becomes nutrient rich which allows us to start to work on emotional eating tendencies and habits formed.

Getting underneath your connections with food and gaining the right tools and confidence to change these habits is the missing piece of the jigsaw!

How to be smart and successful!

There is a makeable difference for those who do succeed to hit there goals and targets and those that don’t, let me share a few:

Ditch the diet! Even the word diet brings up a psychological connection of limiting food, deprivation and misery to most. If you have embarked on diets previously and failed then this usually has an impact on how you feel about the word ‘diet’. We have a natural rebel instilled in us and if you feel restricted then you will naturally want to break free and rebel.This is were a negative loop of dieting come into play!

Focus on health not weight. When you switch your focus from weight, you naturally reduce the thoughts of success and failure. By focusing on health, you will pick the nest choices based on what your body needs not what a diet is telling you to eat. Feeding your body the right nutrients through unprocessed wholefoods with good quality protein and fats is exactly what you need to become leaner and stronger. The weight then becomes second nature.

Seek help! The health food and dietary business is booming but we are more overweight, burnt out and stressed out than ever before!. By working with a professional such as a dietician or nutritionist, they can support you to understand what good quality nutrition is which can lead to overall health and weight loss success.

Be a gatekeeper of your emotions. Understanding what creates you to overeat, pick the wrong food choices or binge on chocolate or alcohol is the one area, which will change your mindset. We all have different physical and emotional connections to foods, understanding yours is vital to success.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE. I CAN HELP YOU. TOGETHER WE CAN CHANGE THESE BELIEFS!I will guide you on how and what to eat to balance your blood sugar. By eating in this way you will start to feel more energised and more in control, your weight will stabilise. My programme combines Patrick Holford’s low glycaemic load way of eating with Zest4Life coaching tools. This is a practical programme, which will motivate and support you on your journey to great health.

Some of the topics covered:

Low GL nutrition: carbohydrates and the effect on your body

The best food choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Snack options

Comfort eating and how to stop!

Supplements for energy and vitality

Stress Action Plan

Healthy hormones

Boosting immunity

Benefits include:

Balanced blood sugar

Increased energy, enabling you to get more out of each day

Taking back control of your health

Being the weight you want to be

Losing weight that stays off

Better sleep quality

Glowing skin

Balanced hormones

Stable moods

Feeling fabulous !

Confidence in food choices for you and your family

I work with clients on a 1:1 basis and in a Group environment. 1:1 sessions run throughout the year and can start when your ready!

I am delighted to be running two fun and interactive Weight Loss Coaching Groups in January, please see details below.

So if you want to be smart about making those health and weight loss goals become a reality in 2017 then don’t hesitate to contact me on 07894 111 433 for a no obligation chat on how I can support you.